This year I am working on a story called Bob vs. The Alien Slug Monsters. Instead of an outline I have a basic list of plot points I want to cover between meeting Bob and sending him off to fight the king of the slugs. There is more of a cast of characters than an actual outline, so we will see how the story develops. And with that intro we continue with Bob Versus the Alien Slug Monsters…
Day 21: Bob shifted the car from park to drive and continued on towards the Golden Meadows Retirement Community.
Bob shifted the car from park to drive and continued on towards the Golden Meadows Retirement Community. There was a shorter route, but Bob thought those roads leaned too close to town. Given Hermans recon mission and the smoke they saw in the sky, Bob decided a less noticeable route was a good idea. His three passengers chatted as though it was a normal outing.
Herman and Enid caught up on gossip from their friend group while Eddie made the occasional snarky comment. While Bob was amused at the soap opera like behavior of the residents of Golden Meadows, he was more worried about the lack of any radio or satellite signal. Beyond the fact that Herman was sent to see what was going on, he didn’t have any practical information.
The path took them through the denser part of the now wooded area but soon enough Bob saw the outline of the back of the Golden Meadows community. He thought about driving around to the front of the building but remembered that the main building, where he would park would be facing down and as the building was on the hill it would be exposed.
‘Good for seeing town, not so good for not getting noticed.’ Until he figured out what was actually going on Bob was all for not getting noticed. He parked on the street behind the community.
“Aren’t we going around?” Enid asked.
“I think we should walk from the back,” Bob said. “It might be a better plan, just for now at least.”
The others seemed happy that he seemed to have a plan and they all piled out of the car. Bob pressed the button to lock the doors and then slipped his keys into his pocket. Gengis immediately walked to the nearest tree and relieved himself against it. The dog was uncharacteristically quiet and kept sniffing the air. He didn’t seem to like what he smelled and sneezed a couple of times. Bob couldn’t smell anything but he sympathized with the dog’s unease.
As a group they walked to the back of the Golden Meadows retirement community. It was, all things considered, a pleasant place. There were small houses that each contained a bedroom, full bath, small sitting room and a kitchenette. The house were small box shapes with pyramidal roofs. The front of each house had a door with a window to either side. Underneath each window was a planter box. For those who liked to garden they could plant. Others left the planting to the staff. The back of each house had a door flanked by two windows as well, but it let out on a small concrete pad that served as a patio.
All of the houses were connected by a series of white, white concrete sidewalks. The concrete of the sidewalks was textured to prevent slipping and in the corners where the paths met planting boxes were installed. Flowers bloomed in profusion in the boxes. Bob had visited here before, a couple of times with Enid, but before then he visited his Aunt Margaret before she passed. As always he thought of the entire place like an over grown monopoly set.
He didn’t feel quite like he was walking through a real place, even though he could appreciate that it was trying to give it’s residents the feel of a real neighborhood. In the front of the property looming over the smaller houses was the main building. It was primarily used for administration and things like medical exams. Usually had various caregivers and maintenance staff moving in and out of it. Now it was dark and silent.
Ten til Midnight 